Posts Tagged ‘Fabricated Truth’

When I announced some big changes at Fabricated Truth, I was only partly kidding. In fact, I actually want to change something. Writing a short review (see my previous post “What’s in a Name” for more information) (almost) whenever I see a movie is nice, but not enough. Occasionally I feel the need to stretch my writing muscles a bit and actually write something a bit deeper and more meaningful. But what about? Truth is, I may claim to be a movie expert sometimes, but I really am not. Sure, I’ve been to the cinema a couple of times and have seen the occasional film on TV or DVD, but when it comes to real knowledge of classic cinema or something similar, I quickly must admit my ignorance.

But ignorance is not only bliss but also a chance. Admitting it is not shameful, especially not when trying to overcome it. And thus we come to the introduction of theme months. Going back to the tight schedule of December, when the bilingual Adventskalender kept me posting regularly, I will once again submit myself to self-set deadlines and try to write something more on a recurring theme. And since December is still a long way away and I am frankly quite tired of Christmas movies, (Besides, are there even 24 more worth watching?) each month will now be a theme month at Fabricated Truth. Don’t worry, I will still write and post my Minute Movie Reviews, but in addition, each month will be dedicated to a theme and see some posts related to that – maybe not every day, but at least a couple of times each week.

Themes can be basically everything. A month may be dedicated to a film maker (e.g. Woody Allen), an actor (e.g. Christopher Walken), a genre (e.g. horror), a sub-genre (e.g. slasher horror), an era (e.g. The Golden Age of Cinema), a country (e.g. Iceland) or something else entirely. I will write a short introductory text on the first of each month, detailing the theme and also outlining which particular movies will be reviewed in depth during the course of the month – and yes, this will start in July.

For most months, this will be a kind of adventure for me – writing about something I know very little about, slowly dissolving my ignorance and learning about the theme. I hope that some readers will join me in those journeys and learn about these themes together with me. Occasionally I may pretend to know everything, but it’s all just for show. Even when admitting your own ignorance, you still have to keep some face. And readers will get to keep all of theirs, using my ignorance to displace their own.

Two last issues: I’m fairly certain that most articles in this endeavour will be better written than this one. Hopefully, having a deadline, even if it is self-imposed, will stop me from writing late at night when I should really be sleeping. Blame my tiredness for this badly written piece. And also, no, I don’t have any plans to write about Woody Allen, Christopher Walken, horror movies or even slasher horror movies (whatever those might be) and I’m not sure what The Golden Age of Cinema even is. I also have never seen an Icelandic film – but maybe I’ll get around to that eventually. For July, expect some light-hearted start with a not too serious theme about which I actually know a little. More on Tuesday – I hope to see you here (figuratively speaking).

Attentive readers may already have noticed that I recently changed the title lines of my movie reviews from a simple “Movie Review” to “Minute Movie Review”. The change might seem minuscule, but I’d still like to explain it.

For some time, calling this things movie reviews has bothered me. Sure, in a way that’s exactly what they are, but in truth they tell very little about the film they supposedly review. When I first started writing them, my idea was nothing less than to revolutionize how movies are criticized.

Obviously, this completely failed.

Instead, they have become a way for me to keep track of which movies I’ve recently watched – what they were about and whether I liked them. Additionally, they were a chance for you, my dear readers, to see quickly, whether you might want to see a movie. They are more of a recommendation than reviews, I guess. But calling them “Movie Recommendation” would have been silly – first because I always slow down typing when spelling recommendation and also because I wouldn’t recommend a fair number of these films. Thus the title of “Minute Movie Review” was born.

They are not called “Minute Movie Review” because you should be able to read them in a minute (which, admittedly, shouldn’t be a problem for even a slow reader), but because I always set out to write them in a minute. Which actually never works out, but that is completely besides the point.

So, in the next few days, I will go back through the archives and rename all the old entries, because that’s just the kind of person I am. And also in the next few days, I will inform you of the other reason to rename these short reviews. Great things are afoot at Fabricated Truth, but for more on that you’ll have to wait a couple of days. Because that’s also the kind of person I am.

As I have said before, Fabricated Truth (as this blog is pretentiously called) is all about interaction. I promised to write your stories and your poems and of course I’ve kept my promise. But that kind of interaction obviously scared some people, so for the newest feature you don’t even have to leave a fake name. On the immediate right of this post (or slightly above that if you are reading this at a later date) you will find a poll – the option to voice your opinion on what movie I should review next. I will occasionally yield to the result and will of course update the poll as I see fit. Share and Enjoy!